Refrain from cheap politics in martyrs name: PPP,Cong to CM

A day after the Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal said that neither the Congress,nor the Peoples Party of Punjab (PPP) bothered to remember Punjabs martyrs,PPP and Congress leaders accused the CM of misleading people on the occasion of Martyrs Day on March 23.

A day after the Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal said that neither the Congress,nor the Peoples Party of Punjab (PPP) bothered to remember Punjabs martyrs,PPP and Congress leaders accused the CM of misleading people on the occasion of Martyrs Day on March 23.

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PPP president Manpreet Singh Badal stated that the Sanjha Morcha had organised two events to commemorate the day.

Partap Singh Bajwa,president of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC),on Sunday rebutted the statement of Badal,and also advised him to desist from playing cheap politics in the name of martyrs.

Asking Badal to set his records straight,Bajwa said that the Congress had a history of making sacrifices for the nation and honouring martyrs was a fundamental duty of the Congress leaders. He stated that he along with senior party leaders had visited Khatkar Kalan,memorial of Shaheed Bhagat Singh,on Saturday,hours before Badal visited the place. He also said that almost all newspapers had covered the event with photographs of him laying wreath on the memorial.

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While the PPP organised an event at Hussainiwala in Ferozepur,its allies, CPI and CPM,held an event at Khatkar Kalan. We do not have the CMs helicopter that can enable the same workers to cover both the events, Manpreet quipped. The Sanjha Morcha had decided that Hussainiwala and Khatkar Kalan were historically significant and events should be organised at both places.

He added that Badal misused official machinery while organising his event,as he travelled in a helicopter adding to the expenditure. It would have been better if the money spent on the helicopter was distributed to the poor,as a true tribute to the martyrs. With regard to the events held by the PPP,CPI and CPM,either the CM was not aware,as he is shielded from real information by his coterie,or he is deliberately misleading people, Manpreet said.

I urge the CM to be discreet at least on such solemn occasions,as it is painful to see him resorting to such tactics of misinformation, the PPP chief added.

Bajwa said that he had chosen March 23 for taking over his new assignment,because it was being observed as Martyrs Day. He also said that after his return from Khatkar Kalan,he and other PPCC office bearers paid floral tributes to martyrs Bhagat Singh,Rajguru and Sukhdev at a function organised at Congress Bhawan.

On Saturday,at the state function organised at Khatkar Kalan,Badal had taken a dig at Manpreet saying that he had constituted his political party from this sacred land by taking the vow,but it seemed that he had forgotten the importance of the day. Badal added that Manpreet committed political suicide by the leaving the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD),and it was unfortunate that he had also forgotten the martyrs of the country.